Arizona Republicans Found Out Barack Obama Won Re-Election, and Things Got Very Awkward
Attorney General Tom Horne followed, and the grumbling continued. He clearly didn't want to be in that spot, but talked about suing the Obama administration again before getting the hell out of there.
Then Congressman Trent Franks upped the awkwardness ante. Franks, who easily won re-election, tried twice to quiet the room down in that stern voice he'll use when he's acting serious about something, which is typically abortion. Nobody listened, and Franks said something about his voice not being very strong at the time before going on with his remarks.
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| Congressman Trent Franks, awkwardly awaiting everyone to heed his request of silence. He eventually gave up. |
The most attention Franks got was when his young son accidentally tripped and fell off the back of the stage (which was no more than two feet high), and Franks got some laughs by responding, "That's my boy." Standing about 10 feet from Franks, it was still difficult to hear him, as the groaning amongst the Republicans continued. We did get his closing line: "May God save America."
Not to be outdone on the awkward-meter, Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin hit the stage after Franks, and it was pretty clear that Tobin didn't even consider the possibility that Obama would be declared the victor before he gave his speech.
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| Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin being awkward. |
Tobin broke from his prepared remarks to tell everyone it's not over, because there's still Ohio (This was well after Fox News called Ohio, and the election, for Obama.)
Interestingly enough, Tobin was explaining this while Karl Rove was hogging the Fox News screen to his left, and the two of them really do resemble each other (sorry, if that's offensive to either of them).
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| azcapitoltimes.com/schema-root.org |
| Andy Tobin (left) and Karl Rove. |
We'd find out later that night how Tobin got the idea from that Obama didn't really win Ohio -- Rove. Awkward.
State Treasurer Doug Ducey came up next, as people were starting to accept Obama's win, as made his quick remarks about the defeat of Proposition 204 before getting out of there.
The last spike in awkwardness came from Matt Salmon, who easily won his congressional race.
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| Matt Salmon being awkward. |
"I'm so thankful we live in Arizona, where we actually elect the right people," he said, apparently some consolation for those in attendance.
The awkwardness left upon the arrival of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which caused pretty much everyone to go apeshit.
And that is how the most awkward 30 minutes of Election Day went down.




































